JPJ

20 hours ago, EBS_freak said:

My thoughts are in the opening posts.

Thanks, and noted 😉

3 minutes ago, warwickhunt said:

Can't help with your mixing but your drummer is one step closer to IEM after borrowing my Behringer P2 when he depped for us the other day!    

Excellent work - well done!

Not strictly a Fenderbird, but here's my Overwater original series which Chris May tells me was designed at the request of a certain Mr John Entwistle to combat the infamous t'bird neck dive. 

I've just popped the original filter based preamp back into this and now it's got all those classic late eighties/early nineties tones on tap. 

So I've decided that I am going to continue my experimentation with IEM's in 2024. As I've said on here many times before, I play bass in two bands (one a female fronted Americana/country band, the second a southern rock band) and I mix the live sound 'from the stage' using a Behringer XR18. The singer in the female fronted Americana band already uses my old T-Bone IEM transmitter/receiver set with the ubiquitous KZ ZS10 Pro's and loves the setup. I am experimenting with the X-Vive U4 and the same KZ ZS10's. Both the singer and the drummer in the southern rock band are talking about IEM's (the fiddle player already uses a hardwired Behringer P2/KZ ZS10 combo). It's only a matter of time before this band goes full IEM followed by 'silent stage' minus acoustic drums. 

I've had limited success so far with my own IEM mix due to trying to do this 'on the fly' and also with the poor isolation I can achieve with the KZ's despite trying several different tips including foam and rubber. To speed up the process, I thought I'd ask the Basschat community for their tips/experiences of mixing IEM feeds to save me a lot of faffing about. 

On 20/12/2023 at 10:30, bogleshake said:

 

My question is has anyone managed to make the KZ’s fit an ACS custom plug or am I going to need to stretch to the Evolve Classics, as the chat seems to be that anything less than 3 drivers are going to be insufficient for bass?

 

I've tried this and failed miserably. The tip of the KZ is seductively close in profile to the outer shape of the ACS filter, but the connection isn't strong enough to support the KZ unit, and the entry angle is also wrong such that the KZ over ear loop doesn't sit right on my ears. 

So after experimenting with the combination of KZ ZS10 pros and X-Vive U4 and generally enjoying the experience, I think I am ready to upgrade the ZS10's to a custom moulded solution as I have, like many, struggled to achieve good isolation with the ZS10's irregardless of the rubber or foam tips I use. I already have a pair of ACS custom moulded ear plugs that I use when IEM is not possible so I have been looking at the various ACS IEM products and I have a question.

ACS offer a 'ambient' IEM that includes a port with their 17db filter - the same filter I use in my plugs. It seems the idea is that you only need to feed your instrument into the IEM with everything else on stage coming from the ambient port (or you can feed as much of the rest of the band as you need and top up with the ambient). This would work great for me as both my bands are still reliant on backline and acoustic drums. Given the amount of knowledge and experience on here, what is the collected wisdom on ambient IEM solutions?

Next up in the ‘I have too much gear’ sale is my SWR Marcus Miller Preamp. This is a fully featured 2U bass preamp with just about every conceivable feature including:

1) gain control, mute switch, and input pad (-10db). Two input jacks on the front panel with a switch to choose between them, and a third parallel input on the back panel.

2) The famous (or infamous) SWR aural enhancer tweaked for Marcus’s preferred response, but including a pull to defeat feature.

3) five-band eq including three (low mid, mid, and high mid) semi-parametric mid control foot switchable should you wish to. This thing is a tone monster - whatever you want its in there.

4) Parallel FX loop blend control and foot switchable effects loop.

5) master volume.

6) foot switchable fully featured compressor including controls for threshold, ratio, attack, and release. Push button switch to choose between the compressor being before or after the eq.

7) foot switchable boost with boost control for the level of boost required (subtle for playing under a guitar solo, or max out for your bass solo). 

8} foot switchable ‘bass intensifier’ circuit with level and cut-off controls

9) Back panel features a pre-amp out to power amp with ground lift, a DI out to the PA including a level control, ground lift, phase inversion switch and a switch to select the DI source (pre eq, post compressor, or line with everything), effects loop send and return jacks, tuner out, foot switch jack, and that parallel input jack for the full rack mount setup with your favourite wireless etc. 

The preamp comes with the original four button foot switch that connects with a standard jack-to-jack instrument lead. 

I’ve owned this preamp twice in its life time, but as its not getting the use it deserves, and as I am drowning in too much gear and not enough space, it’s got to go. Note: this sale is for the SWR Marcus Miller Preamp and foot switch only and does not include the SWR Grand Prix preamp, the SWR Amplite power amp, or the rack case, but if you fancy a deal on more than one item - drop me a pm. 

Price is based on collection from Killingworth (just north east of Newcastle upon Tyne) but I have sufficient packing materials so  the preamp can be posted at the buyers risk and expense. 

Any questions, drop me a pm. 

As I’m feeling festive, how about a whopping £50 price reduction, so this great acoustic/electric bass plus the case for just £550 

Keep an eye out for one of the Ashdown Neo combos they made a few years ago. I snaffled one last year and I love it. 400W into the built-in 8 ohm 1x15 speaker (so probably 200W) but loud enough for my Country/Americana band, then I pair it with a matching Neo series 8 ohm 1x15 to get the ohms down to 4 ohms and the full 400W into both cabs - loud enough for my Southern Rock band. Both the combo and the cab are an easy one-hand lift 😎

So even I have to admit I have too much gear these days and its time to thin the herd a little, and first in the “least used must go category” is my Warwick Rockbass Alien 5 string electro-acoustic bass. The bass is pretty much in perfect condition with only a few surface scratches in the high gloss black finish on the back of the beautifully bound body, a solid 9.5 out of 10. 

These basses are amazing value for money new, and here’s the opportunity to pick one up with a Stagg semi-hard case at two-thirds the price of a new one without the case. The bass sounds great acoustically and will hold its own for the old acoustic house practice. Amplified, it has a big open acoustic tone, and a powerful active Fishman preamp with the controls tastefully hidden inside the sound hole comprising of a master volume and tone control. The bass will come wearing Warwick Black Label flatwound strings that get rid of the horrible finger noise typical of those phosphor bronze strings that manufacturers seem to favour for acoustic basses. The neck also has the wonderful Warwick adjust-a-nut which means you can get a super low action across the whole neck. 

Price is firm, it’s a lot of bass for this money and is collection only. Obviously, as it has a case and I have a suitable packing box, postage is an option but only at the buyers cost and risk (the bass survived being shipped to me in the case and a box). 

Any questions - please ask!

So long story short, I first tried a Vanderkley 2x12 cab a few years ago over at Overwater in Carlisle. I was impressed by how ‘smooth’ the cab sounded and it’s been on my ‘itch to scratch’ list ever since. As some of you might know, I have assembled all the components to build a Basschat 2x12 but I’m so time poor at the moment that those components have been moved up to the loft ‘for future use’. So, when this came up for sale relatively close to me, I jumped on it. No chance to fire it up in anger yet, but I can’t wait to hear my Ashdown Geezer head through this 😎

3 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

https://www.soundcraft.com/en/products/ui24r

 

Best decision I've made in years.

 

Yes I’ve looked at those but no physical faders, so not what I’m looking for

1 hour ago, BCH said:

How many inputs & Aux (monitors) do you need?

Well I haven’t ran out of either on the XR18 so 16 in, 6 out plus main L&R out of course. I do use input 17&18 for break music so a similar facility would be nice.

So I've been a (mostly) happy Behringer XR18 user almost since they first appeared on these shores. It does everything I need it to do, and a few things I don't (such as automix) but Behringer's support for the necessary software has been patchy at best (no pun intended) and, following numerous threads on the XR18 user groups on Facebook, it seems there is an underlying reliability issue with the power supply board. Mine lives in a flight case with a Driverack, the router, and a draw for necessary bits and pieces, and I have an X-Touch in a separate flight case as physical faders are much easier to adjust on the fly when mixing side of stage whilst playing. 

Given my earlier comment about reliability, I am thinking of where I might go next, and I think I'll probably move away from the stage box style mixers to something more conventional. Given that I know and I am comfortable with the Behringer workflow, the most obvious next step is an x32 Compact but the x32 range is getting on in age too, and maybe there is a better solution out there. So here's the question, which digital desk would you move to next?

So as I've said on here before, my rig consists of two EV ZLX15P's and two old Peavey active 15" subs rated at 400W. We put the whole five piece band through this via a Behringer XR18 and a DBX Drvierack PA360, and I seem to get a decent sound out of this setup as I have had compliments from more knowledgeable sound people. The heat that the ZLX's run at worries me (no fan, just passive heat sink through the amp backplate) but for the number of gigs I do (circa 20 per annum) this system is all I want to pay for. 

I have been tempted by the JBL JRX mentioned previously as a single box per side, but the size/weight puts me off. It does make me think that with the advancement in loudspeaker components (a good 12" now beating an older 15 etc) whether one of our intrepid loudspeaker cabinet designers couldn't come up with a passive solution using a combination of say 8" and 12" cones in a box that is physically large enough to impress the ladies, whilst providing a much better single box-per-side solution (yes I know the subs should be centred, and having tried this, I know that this works so much better but doesnt work in the average pub setting).

For bass, I always prefer DI into the desk. Mic’ing bass cabs live is a challenge, especially where you have limited space. Recording is a different matter, but I’d still take a DI feed, plus at least one close mic, and one or possibly two a metre or so away from the cab. Then mix the three signals to get your desired recorded sound. 

In one of my bands the drummer uses a P2 fed from Aux 3 and reports no problems (but then he is a drummer). In my other band our fiddle player uses the same setup and she’s a pro player featuring in the Edinburgh tattoo every year and again no complaints from her.

If you have no joy identifying the source of the noise, you could try sticking the RTA on the affected aux out and eq’ing out the worst of the noise? 

Most of the older SWR cabs I’ve owned have suffered from detachment and shrinkage of the carpet covering, particularly on the bottom of the cabs. My recommendation would be to remove the carpet, but I’ve done this once and will never do it again voluntarily as it was a complete PITA. I ended up having to belt sand the whole cab to get the sticky glue residue and the remainder of the carpet off. 

So are we to conclude you have unlocked the ‘secret source’ of the Wal sound? Does this mean the people at Wal will either: a) take out a contract on you; b) send you a cease and desist; c) buy you out for mega bucks then bury your research? 😂

58 minutes ago, ardi100 said:

That looks great. 

 

There is a neo combo available not far from me. It's just about within budget, but it would have to do duty on its own.

 

How does it go by itself?

The majority of gigs I play these days are with a country/Americana band and I use the combo on its own, albeit with PA support. 

25 minutes ago, ardi100 said:

Potential ABM owner here.

 

I'm trying to replace a Mark Bass Little Mark 250 and an Eden 12 (4 ohm). I've read this entire thread and been seduced by all the tales of tones and customer service!

 

I have a very strict budget, it has to be paid for by the sales of my current gear. A couple of options present. Some Evo ii and iii combos are definitely within budget. Also an Evo iii head and a very cheap ABM 212 (4 ohm) or an 8 ohm 115 plus pick up a second cab later. The weights don't really bother me.

 

Any thoughts on which route is 'better'?

 

Thanks.

I managed to pick up a 400W ABM Neo 1x15 combo, quite a rare beast by all accounts, which has turned me from being an Ashdown disliker to Ashdown lover. Paired with the matching Neo 1x15 cab on bigger gigs, I find this combo covers all my needs.

My first proper amp was an Ohm GB60, a horrendously underpowered 60W 1x15 combo with an H&H driver, but a lovely sound.

2 minutes ago, warwickhunt said:

SWR Behemoth?  

Indeed, loud enough for Derek Smalls 

On 20/08/2023 at 21:55, Stoneham said:

I get all my transformers, toroid and EI, custom made to my spec. Have used toroid mains in guitar amps for a few years now, I find they perform better for stray fields.  

In practise, output toroids can work great but need to be oversized to handle sub 50Hz frequencies properly,  a big deal on a bass amp.  I've learnt loads from the YI200 about transformer design.

All ABM amps have a huge mains toroid, likewise Trace Elliott and many others.  It's a case of finding the right part for the job

 

Did somebody say huge toroid?

6 hours ago, floFC said:

The 2 AA batteries on the left.

They are rechargeable as well 😉